Bob Cranston, age 13, of Wausau, Wisc., for his question:
WHERE ARE DATES GROWN?
History tells us that man cultivated the date palm before any other tree known to history. Directions telling how to grow the trees were found recorded on sun baked bricks that were made more than 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia.
Date palms provide one of the chief articles of food in North Africa and the Middle East. Egypt and Iraq rank as the world's leading producers of dates.
Dates,are also grown today in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, Pakistan and Morocco.
In the United States, the date palm has been imported and is now providing lots of fruit in California, Arizona and parts of Texas. In California the fruit is produced on trees planted in the hot valleys of the southern interior while the Arizona date growing areas are in the lower Salt River Valley and in the Colorado River Valley near Yuma.
In Texas, dates grow on palms planted in the lower Rio Grande Valley and certain areas between Laredo and San Antonio.
It takes from 4 to 10 years after planting for a date palm to begin to bear fruit. The trees must have a hot, dry climate. They grow best where the temperature stays around 90 degrees Fahrenheit for at least three months of the year.
Date palms like sandy, alkaline soil. Growers in most parts of the world must depend on irrigation to supply the water needed by the roots.
During the ripening season, any rain that falls will harm the fruit. Where this happens, growers must protect the fruit by covering it with paper bags.
Rain isn't a problem with Algerian date trees, since none falls during the ripening season. And irrigation isn't a problem either. The trees are planted in deep pits dug in the soil of an oasis. The roots of the trees reach moisture far below the surface.
Date palms grow to be 40 to 100 feet fall.
Date growers consider a yearly yield of 100 to 200 pounds of dates for a tree as very good. Some trees produce more than this amount.
Male and female flowers grow on separate trees. In orchards, cultivators must carry the pollen by hand to the female flowers. The fruit grows and ripens only after the flowers have received the pollen.
People eat dates either fresh or dried, and they also use them in cooking. The Arabs pound and mix the fruit to make cakes.
Large leaves from date palms are used to weave matting, baskets and bags. Rope is made from the fiber. The tree trunk and other parts provide fuel and building materials for fences in many parts of the world.
The fruit seeds are roasted in some areas as a substitute for coffee, or ground to yield oil